


and nobody knows it

by sparklylulz (sparklyulz)



Category: Lizzie Bennet Diaries
Genre: Crack Fic, F/M, Karaoke, Pemberly Arc, seriously this is just ridiculous self indulgence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-02
Updated: 2013-02-02
Packaged: 2017-11-27 20:34:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/666227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparklyulz/pseuds/sparklylulz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>the one where Darcy goes to karaoke night.</p>
            </blockquote>





	and nobody knows it

**Author's Note:**

> for Sara, who gave me the brilliant song choice for Lizzie and Darcy. I have exactly two headcanons about Darcy: he is left-handed and he can't carry a tune to save his life, and that's why this demanded to be written. I cranked the crack factor up to 11, my apologies in advance.

Gigi comes to Lizzie late one afternoon during her fourth week at Pemberley to tell her that Darcy would be joining them at karaoke tomorrow night.  
  
“Can your brother even sing?” Lizzie asked, trying to imagine William Darcy singing in the shower, but Darcy in the shower isn’t a thought she should linger on.  
  
“Oh, God no. He won’t actually sing, he and Fitz just go because I use my puppy eyes until they agree.” Gigi grinned back.  
  
“Your puppy eyes _are_ powerful,” Lizzie agreed. “What time are we leaving again?”  
  
After Gigi finishes telling Lizzie where to meet them that night, she retreats from the office, and leaves Lizzie to her sudden internal panic over seeing Darcy. Naturally, things after the letter had been awkward, and now that she spent every day one floor below his office didn’t help her cause at all.  
  
It probably would have been easier if Darcy had been some sort of tyrannical CEO, but instead he was open with his employees and gave them every luxury imaginable. The entire building was eco-friendly and all the people were so nice, Lizzie thought it might be a disease. Rather than helping her hate him, everyone only spoke about how wonderful he was. How he had paid for so-and-so’s husband’s hospital bills, or how he donated an exorbitant amount of money to animal shelters.  
  
At half past five the next day, she locks her makeshift office and puts her coat around her shoulders as she climbs into the elevator.  
  
Darcy is waiting awkwardly in the lobby when she steps out and he’s alone. He looks up and she hates how happy he seems to be at the sight of her. She had publicly humiliated him and called him a douchebag on the internet, but here he stood like the earth and stars revolved around her.  
  
“Lizzie, I trust you are well.” He said politely.  
  
“I can’t complain. How are you?” She asked tentatively, looking up at his face.  
  
“I’m fine,” He shifted his gaze to the lobby door. “Gigi said she would meet us there, she had tennis and wanted to change. Shall we?”  
  
It was odd, the way his eyes lit up when he said Gigi’s name, he was obviously proud of her, a big brother mushed into a mother and father hybrid as well. For the first time, Lizzie sees a boy that grew into a man too quickly and forgot what things like fun and weekends meant. He gave those things to Gigi, though, and Lizzie wondered if her parents were to die, could she be that strong?

The answer was no. Jane was the rock of the Bennet household, and Lydia, well, Lydia was Lydia. Lizzie liked being the middle child, she was easily overlooked.  
  
“So, Darcy, are you a big karaoke fan?” Lizzie decided that maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t so bad after all.  
  
He cleared his throat and looked down at her, “Um, I wouldn’t say _fan_. But Gigi enjoys it and I like seeing her happy.”  
  
Lizzie wished he wouldn’t say things like that, things that remind her of “ _I’m in love with you,_ ” when she didn’t want to be reminded of it. Because if she had been wrong about Darcy it might lead to a regret that she wasn’t ready to face.  
  
“She’s a great singer! Last week she and Fitz rapped Bust a Move and got a standing ovation.” She laughed up to him and she got a good-natured smirk in return.  
  
“To be fair, many of the patrons had probably had a few too many beers.” He laughed and it caused Lizzie to stop mid stride and look over at him.  
  
“What? Did I say something wrong?” He asked, but she shook her head.  
  
“No... I’ve just never heard you laugh before. I didn’t know robots could.” She recovered quickly, and for a split second she thinks she’s gone too far before his lips twitch at the edges.  
  
“It’s the buggy programming.” He smirked and pulled the door to the bar open for her.  


-

An hour later after Fitz and Gigi have both eaten an entire order of onion rings a piece and Darcy has a few drinks in him, the host comes on stage to welcome anyone up who would like to sing, but Lizzie hasn’t had near enough alcohol to go first.  
  
There are several drunk college girls that go on stage and sing a medley of ABBA’s hits much to the chagrin of all the other customers, and then one guy with a guitar who does a Jack Johnson cover.  
  
“Has anyone told him this _isn’t_ a cafe?” Darcy leaned over to Lizzie, and she can smell the beer on his lips.  
  
“Maybe he got kicked out of the cafe.” She grinned back and only realized how close they were when Fitz clears his throat.  
  
“Okay, here’s how it’s gonna be kids. Gigi and I are going to sing and since Lizzie took the first bathroom break, we get to pick her partner and her song.” Fitz said over his last onion ring, sending a wink for good measure.  
  
“What?! That’s not fair!” Lizzie protested, but she knew the rules of karaoke night. Damn her tiny bladder.  
  
“Sorry, Lizzie B, you are the weakest link!” Fitz cheered as he stood to drag Gigi to the stage behind him.  
  
Most of the people in the room knew the duo, and let out a round of applause before they even got to the mic stands.  
  
“Hey, y’all, we’re FiGi and we hope you enjoy this!” Fitz said into the mic before looking to the DJ.  
  
The opening drums sound and Lizzie finds herself laughing as Fitz opens his mouth. He and Gigi sway to the beat and as the chorus comes, Lizzie let out a loud cheer.  
  
“ _If you like pina coladas and getting caught in the rain; if you’re not in yoga, if you have half a brain_ ,” Gigi crooned at the crowd and grinned over to her brother.  
  
“Oh my god, you totally like this song!” Lizzie laughed, turning to her silent companion.  
  
“I have no idea what you’re referring to.” He answered stiffly.  
  
“You can’t fool me, Darcy. _If you like makin’ love at midnight!_ ” She sang back to him, her entire body felt warm from the two beers previously ingested.  
  
He tried his best to glare back at her, but she saw the corners of his mouth upturn. She figured his iPod must be a gold mine and resolved to ask Gigi about it. Just as she turned from Darcy, the song ended and Gigi leaned back into her mic.  
  
“We’d like to welcome Lizzie Bennet and her singing partner, Will Darcy to the stage. Be gentle, it’s their first time.” Her smile was innocent but Lizzie could spot the mischievous glint in the younger Darcy’s eye.  
  
She expected Darcy to protest, but she should have known by now that he didn’t say no to Gigi. (Probably out of fear for his life.) So they stood awkwardly to walk up the stairs and as they passed Gigi, she whispered a quick, “Love you guys!”  
  
Lizzie Bennet was not a singer. In fact, none of the Bennets were singers. When they came together for birthdays, it sounded more like a funeral dirge than a celebratory song. She felt as awkward as Darcy looked when he signaled for the DJ to start the song.  
  
At the opening bars, Lizzie felt her stomach drop out of her body. Darcy went four shades paler than she’d ever seen him, but at a cheer from Gigi he opened his mouth.  
  
 _“Don’t go breaking my heart,_ ” He sang stiffly into the mic and Lizzie let out a laugh because Darcy was a terrible singer, too.  
  
“ _I couldn’t if I tried,_ ” She sang after he gave her a look, oh she was so going to kill Gigi after this.  
  
“ _Oh, honey, if I get restless_ ,” His voice was deep and offkey, which made her feel better about her own tone deafness.  
  
“ _Baby, you’re not that kind._ ” The words were muffled by her fit of the giggles and he was very pointedly _not_ looking at her when they both came together for the chorus.  
  
 _“Oooh, ooh, and nobody knows it! When I was down, I was your clown. Ooh, ooh and nobody knows it; right from the start, I gave you my heart!”_  
  
The rest of the song went about as well as expected between Darcy’s ridiculous swaying and Lizzie’s laughter and they didn’t get a standing ovation when it was over, but she didn’t really care.  
  
“What if we killed them both?” Lizzie asked Darcy when they stumbled back to their table.  
  
“It wouldn’t be _that_ hard to hide the bodies...” He grinned back, and in her intoxication Lizzie laughed back. Darcy cracking jokes, what were the chances?  
  
“That was quite a performance, guys.” Fitz said and Lizzie threw one of Gigi’s old onion rings at him.  
  
They all walked to the parking lot together, and Fitz left with Gigi after giving Lizzie a hug and promising to see her soon. This meant she and Darcy had to make the hike back to Pemberley alone.  
  
It’s quiet for the first few minutes, but then she stumbles on the sidewalk and he catches her under her arm and they’re so close that Lizzie can feel the heat coming off him.  
  
“Tonight was fun, I actually had a lot of fun.” She said, arm still looped with his.  
  
“I had fun too, Lizzie.” He smiled down at her kindly.  
  
 _“Don’t go breakin’ my heart!”_ Lizzie sang at the top of her lungs, breathing in the warm air and not expecting the, _“I won’t go breakin’ your heart!”_ that Darcy sings back, mangled by his key change.  
  
When they get her to the train station next to Pemberley, she reluctantly takes her arm back and tells him thank you before climbing on board and wondering if maybe she had been wrong about him after all.  
  
The next morning she has a terrible hangover and fourteen texts: eleven from Charlotte asking how she’s doing and then if she’s died, one from Gigi about how fun last night was, one from Jane wanting to make a Skype date and one from... _Darcy?_  
  
“ ** _Extra coffee in the break room today, ask Mrs. Reynolds for a bottle of Advil. You have a nice voice._** ”  
  
She saves the message and climbs out of bed trying not to smile.


End file.
